New Delhi: At Raihan Vadra’s exhibition, titled ‘No Idea Is Final’, the empty walls speak more than any photograph could. One has been painted a glaring red and a neat print of the constitution’s preamble runs through.Vadra is a 26-year-old photographer. As is well known, he is also Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s son, and is descended from three Indian prime ministers.Vadra’s latest exhibition is the first time that he is using his work as a direct reflection of the present climate. But mere hours before his show was due to open on October 21, Vadra says that the venue, Bikaner House, forced him to take down 75 of his 105 photographs. At 6 pm on October 20, he received a call from Bikaner House, informing him that certain works were against their policy which prohibits “nudity and political content.”Raihan Vadra’s statement on the removals.Most of the photographs that he had to take down were portrayals of the protests that have taken place in Delhi over the past few months. Over half the exhibition consisted of emotive, black and white portraits of the street takeover. A seemingly hostile group of police officers overpowering a single protester, a solitary man clutching the constitution, a sea of people during Rahul Gandhi’s march to the Supreme Court.As is the case with most exhibitions, the details had been ironed out a while ago when his proposal had been accepted, Vadra said. The show was supposed to be derived from his own experiences — life as a springboard to engage with ideas of choice, chaos, and control. Other than his work on the protests, which would have constituted the majority of the exhibition, there are wildlife portraits and abstract pieces.75 of 105 photographs by Raihan Vadra were removed by the Bikaner House management because they were deemed “political” in nature. Photo: Antara Baruah.“I haven’t actually had time to digest what’s happened. It was really important to me to be able to display these photographs,” Vadra told The Wire at Bikaner House. “Forget the context and my background, but even as an artist who lives in Delhi and went to a lot of these protests – I can’t have a show here?” Vadra said that he cited previous work which depict political figures and which had been exhibited at Bikaner House to the authorities. On Wednesday, Bikaner House’s principal resident commissioner, Rohit Kumar, arrived to survey the work. The Wire has reached out to Kumar for his version over the telephone. This report will be updated if and when he responds.“He basically explained the timing and the context to me. He said the entire city is fortified and that makes the work political, and that it’s not the right time,” said Vadra. “First of all, just saying ‘political content’ is ambiguous. And I had already removed any photos that had slogans.” There were certain photos that Vadra says he was open to have a conversation about, but others were “non-negotiable”. He was willing to remove references to the Indian Youth Congress too, he said.An image of a man holding up a copy of the constitution. Photo: Raihan Vadra/Instagram.But Vadra was told that the Rajasthan state government had weighed in on his exhibition, and that a “consensus” had been reached — no works depicting the protest could be shown. This was despite him having shared a concept note, as well as a layout ahead of time. He was given an ultimatum: by 5 pm on October 21, everything had to be taken off. Vadra attempted to work his way around the directive by flipping the canvases, which was rejected. “That could’ve been a statement,” he said. He further suggested piling them up in one corner. Finally, he removed them and placed the images in storage. He drew the line when he was asked to move two pictures of the Indian flag. “I wasn’t going to do that. I told them you can come and remove them yourself,” he said.They left one. It contains no people. “This is my entire career – 75 photos have been removed. What do you expect me to do,” he said. “If it was any other artist, would they [Bikaner House] have had the opportunity to do this [remove the photographs]?” Vadra’s mother, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, has posted about his exhibition on X, saying that she is proud of his stand. She wrote:.@raihanrvadraWhen someone with power becomes afraid of the expression of another, he doesn’t know it, but he has already lost the very power he is trying to protect.You stand for what is true and everything beautiful will find its way to you.I am proud of you, always will be.❤️ mamaTo The Wire, Vadra said that he “100%” foresees an issue with the next gallery he takes the show to, though no final decisions have been made. The show is due to travel to Bengaluru in December. Vadra said that he is determined to exhibit in Delhi, the city he belongs to that has paid witness to this moment in time.“I can’t have a show here with only wildlife, just showcasing how beautiful things are. It would’ve been dishonest to myself. If I had done that, it would’ve been because I’m scared. I’d be worried people would think I’m joining politics,” he said, referring to the fact that he has consciously eschewed the family profession: Indian politics.